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SKETCHES 



THE OLEAN ROCK CITY 

HISTORIC GLIMPSES OF 
OLEAN, NEW YORK 

THE BRADFORD OIL DISTRICT 

HISTORIC GLIMPSES OF 
BRADFORD, PENNSYLVANIA 



KATHERINE EATON BRADLEY 






Gift 
Autiaor 






CONTENTS. 

I. THE OLEAN ROCK CITY. 

n. HISTORIC GLIMPSES OF OLEAW, 
NEW YORK. 

III. THE BRADFORD OIL DISTRICT. 

IV. HISTORIC GLIMPSES OF BRAD- 

FORD, PENNSYLVANIA.^ 

V. APPENDIX. A COMMUNITY 
FRUIT AND NUT-GROVE. 



THE OLEAN ROCK CITY. 

IT may be that the surveyors who laid out 
the Kittanning Road during the War of 
the American Revohition were the first 
white men to gaze upon the glittering 
pebbles of the huge conglomerate rocks now 
called the Olean Rock City. This military 
highway, cut through the forest one hun- 
dred and forty years ago, passed near these 
rocks, and its builders must have asked the 
question, "How and when were these im- 
mense boulders scattered upon the hill- 
tops?" This remarkable group of rocks, 
situated in the northern portion of the Brad- 
ford Oil District, is perched upon a ridge of 
the Great Divide of the Alleghany Mount- 
ains, one thousand feet above Olean, in 
southwestern New York. It is six miles 
south of the city and near the New York- 
Pennsylvania boundary. The group is an 
isolated fragment of a layer of rock which 
has been given a variety of names. It is 
called the Olean Conglomerate because of 
this bold outcrop at the Olean Rock City; 
the Great Conglomerate; Farewell Rock; 
and Puddingstone. In Ohio, it is known as 
the Sharon Conglomerate, and in England, 
as the Millstone Grit. Between 1836 and 
1840, three geologists connected with the 
first New York geological survey visited the 



rock cities of the state. Mr. Horsford de- 
scribed the large rock city seven miles south 
of Ellicottville as the locality most visited, 
and as being in the highest degree imposing. 
He also mentioned similar boulders at Chip- 
munk Riffle, and a group in Alleghany 
County. Professor James Hall said of the 
group near Olean, ''To these broken out- 
liers of conglomerate the fanciful name of 
'Ruined City/ has been applied ; the broad 
fissures resemble streets, and the huge rocks 
on either side dilapidated houses. There 
are subterranean passages and courts, now 
the abode of bears and wolves." 

In the corner stones of these houses is no 
information as to how or when they were 
built, but on their walls the eye of the geo- 
logist finds their history plainly written. At 
Rock City "though inland far we be," we 
are near the shore of what was once the 
great Carboniferous Ocean. Its thundering 
waves wore down the primitive rocks into 
sand and mud, and on its beaches were 
rolled the white and gray quartz pebbles of 
the conglomerate boulders, pebbles ranging 
in size from a pea to a goose egg. The 
pebbles and sand, gradually settling upon 
the ocean's bed, made a layer varying in 
thickness in this locality from thirty to two 
hundred feet. Near Lehigh, Pennsylvania, 
this stratum has a thickness of fifteen hun- 
dred feet. The bottom of the stratum is 
always composed of larger pebbles than the 
—8— 



upper portion, showing that the materials 
were carried in water, the heavier portions 
sinking first. Mother Nature stirred up a 
mixture of sand, pasty mud and pebbles, 
which from its appearance has been termed 
puddingstone. "Pebbly beaches now form- 
ing will when consolidated produce con- 
glomerate." 

In the dim past "when the morning stars 
sang together," the Great Conglomerate 
was long ages in being created, and was re- 
markable as the floor upon which were laid 
those deposits of incalculable value to man- 
kind — the Coal Measures of the world. By 
the geologist's hammer and by borings for 
coal and petroleum, the conglomerate can be 
traced as it inclines from the surface of the 
ground at Rock City to a depth at Pitts- 
burgh of three hundred feet, and at Wheel- 
ing, West Virginia, of seven hundred feet, 
with nine seams of coal resting upon it. It 
was necessary that there should be an eleva- 
tion and a subsidence for every seam of 
coal. This rock is the best guide for the 
coal and oil prospector and he always keeps 
a record of its depth and thickness. 

For a clear knowledge of the story of the 
rock cities we are indebted to the researches 
of Dr. Charles A. Ashburner, who con- 
ducted the Pennsylvania Geological Survey 
in this region in 1877. He has explained the 
conditions necessary to the making of rock 
cities. Before his time it was a popular be- 
—9— 



lief that the rocks had been brought from 
the north and dropped by melting glaciers 
and had been broken into their curious 
forms by earthquake shocks. These theories 
have been disproved by established facts. 
The ice sheet stopped in the center of the 
valley in which Olean is built, and did not 
extend as far south by several miles as Rock 
City. Regarding earthquake disturbances 
in this region the rocks tell a story of quiet 
upheaval. There is probably no region in 
Pennsylvania which has been affected less 
by earth crust movement that the north- 
west portion. Dr. Ashburner cites the Brad- 
ford oil sand as bearing testimony to this 
fact. It is found at an approximate depth 
of eighteen hundred feet, its wide spread 
sheet being remarkable for its evenness and 
regularity. 

After the formation of the conglomerate, 
it quietly sank, probably not more than a 
foot in a century. It is probable that during 
the Carboniferous Age it had sunk forty 
thousand feet, and by the close of this 
period the rock was comparatively level. 
Then occurred the stupendous uplift of the 
Appalachian Mountain system, forcing up 
with it the Great Conglomerate with its 
precious load of coal lying on its breast. 
When it became stationary, its base at the 
Olean Rock City was 2,310 feet above pres- 
ent sea level. As to the force which throws 
up mountain systems. President Holland in 
—10— 



an address to the geologists of the British 
Association, within the past few months, 
made the statement that no one can answer 
the question as to whether they are thrown 
up from below by volcanic action, or are 
formed by the earth's crust rumpling up like 
a base-ball's cover when it loosens. 

The scientists confidently assert that 
every coal deposit rests upon the Great Con- 
glomerate, that coal in workable quantity is 
never found below it in any part of the 
world. It is called by botli American and 
English coal miners "farewell rock," be- 
cause when they have reached it, they take 
leave of all valuable fuel. Great fortunes 
have been lost and men have worked a life- 
time in the vain effort to find coal below 
this stratum. A conspicuous example of the 
conglomerate beneath the coal is seen at 
Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. Sir Francis 
Lyell examined the conglomerate and the 
coal in England and in Pennsylvania, find- 
ing the same kind of fossil plants in the cor- 
responding strata in both places. 

Pennsylvania has virtually all the hard or 
anthracite coal in the United States ; a region 
twenty by twenty-four miles would be large 
enough to hold it all. Professor Silliman 
years ago called it "a great national trust." 

When first elevated this part of the coun- 
try was as level as the prairie. What were 
the forces which carved out the valleys, 
leaving the rock-ribbed hills standing 
—11— 



^'against the blue walls of the sky?" Science 
answers that rain, water and air were the 
chemists, and glacial action the sculptor. 
Only isolated fragments, like the rock cities, 
now remain of the conglomerate exposed 
above the ground, and they rest in blocks 
upon the highest summits. The form in 
which the rock is seen at Rock City- — huge 
cubical blocks having vertical faces — is the 
result of the same agents which carved out 
all the valleys. The principal agent was 
flowing water filled with sediment. The 
agent which accounts for the peculiar form 
of the rock cities is the expansion due to the 
freezing of water which has entered fissures 
or seams in the rocks. As the rock mass 
contracted, principally in vertical planes, the 
seams occurred and the freezing water 
forced the rocks apart into mighty blocks 
and started a straight and forward move- 
ment. Evidence of this movement is that, 
although the fissures which separate the 
rocks vary in width, each fissure is gener- 
ally of the same width throughout. 

Up to this point no reference has been 
made to a most vital part — the foundation 
of this rock. It is underlaid by a bed of 
slate. If the slate was soft and crumbling, 
the conglomerate blocks above it were 
broken up, pushed off the hilltops, rolled 
down their sides, scattered about and the 
finer parts washed away. *'They fell and 
great was the fall thereof." A dift'erent tale 
— 12 — 



is told of the few fragments — the rock cities 
— which remain. Their foundation was 
hard slate forming a level bed upon which 
the conglomerate blocks could slide under 
the pushing force of freezing water. These 
blocks were pushed only a few inches or 
feet and retained their level. The reason 
they are standing today is vouched for by 
both Science and Scripture, "The floods 
descended and beat upon them, and they fell 
not, for they were founded upon a [hard] 
rock." This was the usual occurrence. 
Other and minor causes of the breaking up 
of the rocks are sand driven by the wind, 
and the wedging off of blocks by expanding 
roots of trees. 

Great trees now grow upon them, they 
are often thickly covered with lichens, ferns 
and fern-like moss, and over their sides 
clamber vines. Among the notable masses 
scattered lover this ridge are three fine 
groups; Little Rock City on the opposite 
side of the plateau from the "Big Rocks"; 
Flat Iron, which commands a view of ma- 
jestic hills and beautiful valleys and of 
Olean spread out in its wide valley far 
below; and the Moore group, as yet un- 
known to the tourist, standing in quiet 
grandeur among towering forest trees. 

There are eleven of the larger groups; 

New York has four all within a few miles 

of the state Hne, Pennsylvania has seven at 

intervals of twenty-five to fifty miles and 

—13— 



reaching to the Ohio boundary. They are 
proof that this stratum once existed still 
further north, and are silent witnesses to the 
stupendous destruction of the exposed con- 
glomerate, of the coal above it, and of the 
materials resting upon them. Mr. James 
Macf arlane says : '*It is certainly difficult to 
imagine what has become of the vast mount- 
ains of coal and conglomerate which have 
been removed and cast into the sea." 

It would seem that the Mound Builders, 
whose densely populated communities were 
in this locality, and the Indian tribes who 
came afterward must often have hunted 
among the rocks, rested in Hunter's Cave, 
and lighted beacons on Sentinel Rocks. 
They may also have discovered in sultry 
midsummer, as do the excursionists of 
today, snow and ice in the deep gorges of 
the rocks. 

In traveling from Olean to the rocks one 
may take the highway, which winds about 
the wooded hills, steadily rising through the 
narrow valley, or may go by automobile or 
electric railway. After leaving the cars of 
the Western New York and Pennsylvania 
Traction Company, a short walk on the 
plateau will find the visitors on the house- 
tops of the city; they must enter by des- 
cending the staircases, and unless suffi- 
ciently slender they may be caught in "Fat 
Man's Misery." The "Three Sisters" will 
direct them to an easier route to "Table 
—14— 




THE TOP OF THE ROCKS 




THE THREE SISTERS 



Rock" where they may unload their lunch 
baskets. Soon the fragrance of coffee sim- 
mering over an open fire will mingle with 
the sweet breath of the woods and with that 
atmosphere of joyous freedom which dis- 
tinguishes city-dwellers when they find 
themselves in God's great out-of-doors. 

The tourist prefers to come either when 
this country is all aglow with gorgeous 
autumn foliage, or when it is "knee-deep 
in June." In that month the laurel is in 
bloom, its exquisite pink clusters and glossy 
evergreen leaves making a striking setting 
for the white boulders. In sunny places the 
flowers are rose color ; in the deeper woods 
they are white. The fluted buds are more 
beautiful than the blossoms. This shrub and 
the hazel invariably indicate the presence 
of the conglomerate rock. In ascending a 
hill capped by conglomerate, we see laurel 
and hazel first at the slope formed by the 
bottom of the conglomerate. Fortunate it 
is that the laurel grows luxuriantly at Rock 
City, or long ago it would have been exter- 
minated. During its season, groups of peo- 
ple are seen every hour of the day coming 
from the rocks, their faces almost hidden 
by their armfuls of laurel boughs. One is 
reminded of the army carrying boughs, 
which was seen by the messenger to Mac- 
beth: "As I did stand my watch upon the 
hill, I looked toward Birnam and anon me 
thought the wood began to move. You may 
—15— 



see it coming ! I say — a moving grove/' To 
quote only a few words from Henry Van 
Dyke's brilliant tribute to the laurel: *'I 
have seen the flame azaleas of Georgia, 
* * the imperial blossoms of the rhododen- 
drons, * * the tulip beds of Holland, * * the 
rose gardens at Kew, * * but never have I 
seen bloom more lovely, more satisfying to 
the eye, than that of the high laurel." 

After losing the glory of their mighty 
pines and hemlocks and being deprived 
of sufficient seedlings to reproduce them, 
the mountains girded up their loins and 
patiently labored to produce a new forest 
of cucumber, oak, chestnut, beech, birch, 
maple, hickory, butternut, wild apple, pin 
cherry, and many other trees, and in addi- 
tion, a great variety of shrubs, vines, berry 
bushes, and blooming plants, — all so dear 
to the heart of every lover of nature. 

In the hot months there is often a thick 
fog in the valleys, on which occasions the 
break of day on the hill-tops is a wonderful 
sight. A soft radiance floods the higher 
elevations in sunshine, while the valleys ap- 
pear to be a sea of billowy fog. The peaks 
of the smaller hills are islands, the white 
breakers roll upon the shores, where one 
is sure he sees tall tapering light houses. 
Later he realizes that they are at least doing 
their bit to make light houses, as they prove 
to be the derricks of the oil and gas wells. 
There is a recreation park at Rock City; 
—16— 



and along the trolley line are oil country 
towns, summer camps, and cottages, and 
attractive permanent homes. The altitude 
is higher than that of Lake Placid in the 
Adirondacks. Two sanitoriums invite the 
health seeker to sojourn in the dry and 
invigorating atmosphere — Rocky Crest 
near Rock City, and Bon Air at Bells Camp 
near Bradford. A day camp for anaemic 
children is also near Rock City. Associated 
with the rocks are two short stories written 
by the late Fred Lockwood Eaton of Olean, 
which appeared in "The Youth*s Com- 
panion." The scenes in "Sentinel Rock" 
are laid at Rock City, and the "Sleeping 
Courier," published September 1, 1898, has 
its setting at Flat Iron Rock. 



-17- 



HISTORIC GLIMPSES OF OLEAN. 

WHEN the great ice sheet came down 
out of the north, its towering front 
advanced no further south at this point than 
the present location of Olean, New York. 
It was nearly as high as the hill to the south 
of the city, Mount Hermance, whose face 
and that of Homer Hill to the north, were 
ground off by the moving glacier. The 
steep scarred faces of these hills are now 
covered with young woods. The melting 
glacier left its mud, sand, and boulders 
lying all across the valley in which Olean 
is situated. The elevation of Oak Hill Park 
and the site of the high school building are 
composed of portions of the debris of this 
terminal moraine which is piled up from 
Putnam street to Whitney avenue, to the 
steep bluff north of Reed street, and to 
Sullivan Hill and Seventh street. A few 
miles up the Alleghany River are markings 
high on the hillside indicating the location 
of a dam made by blocks of glacial ice.* 
This dam must have thrown a deluge of 
water in the rear of Mount Hermance. 

As we leave the glacial epoch and come 
down to a later period of time, we find that 



•Note: Olean Natural Science Society, Olean 
Herald, April 14, 1896. 

— 19 — 



Cattaraugus county had very extensive re- 
mains of the earthworks, fortifications, and 
burial mounds of pre-historic peoples.* 
There is evidence that ancient man and the 
elephant lived at the same period at the 
head waters of the Alleghany River, relics 
which seem to prove this statement having 
been discovered in Cattaraugus County in 
the great valley of the Conewango River. 
Large molar teeth of the elephant have been 
found. Near Red House valley was dis- 
covered one of the most interesting relics 
of the ancient inhabitants, — a flat piece of 
copper about four by six inches in size on 
which was engraved an elephant in harness. 
It is considered that Olean was once 
densely populated by the Mound Builders, 
and that Randolph was also the site of a 
pre-historic city. The line of the Genesee 
Valley Canal in East Olean passed through 
a burial mound containing human bones, 
which upon exposure to the air, crumbled to 
ashes. This oval mound was sixty feet 
long, forty feet wide, and ten feet in height. 
It is known that the mastodon was con- 
temporary with the Mound Builders, and 
naturally a deep interest attaches to the 
finding of a mastodon's tooth in a swamp in 
East Olean. This tooth is now in the pos- 
session of Mr. J. F. Johnson of Hamilton 



*N'ote: History of Cattaraugus County, 
Adams, 1893. 

—20— 



street, on whose land it lay buried. When 
Europeans first visited this part of the 
world it was occupied by tribes of Indians. 
Although the Erie tribe was the most 
powerful in this locality, it was exter- 
minated by the Iroquois. The oil spring 
near Cuba was so highly prized by the 
Seneca tribe that it was never traded to the 
white man. In the treaty with Robert Mor- 
ris, the square mile of land surrounding the 
spring, "Dripping Oil," was made a reser- 
vation to which the Indians still retain title. 

THE OLD KITTANNING ROAD. 

One of the few links connecting this lo- 
cality with the period of the War of the 
American Revolution is the Kittanning 
Road. One hundred and forty years ago a 
swath was cut through the unbroken forest 
in a southwesterly direction from Olean to 
Kittanning on the Alleghany River, forty- 
four miles north of Pittsburgh. The road 
was constructed for military purposes, prob- 
ably with the idea of providing a connection 
by land with Pittsburgh should river com- 
munication be cut off by the British. Kit- 
tanning is in Armstrong County, and its 
military defenses consisted of Fort Arm- 
strong, built in 1779, and two block houses 
which furnished a refuge for the settlers 
when apprehensive of an attack by Indians. 
At the southern end this historic highway 
has been known as the Olean Road, while 
—21— 



at the other end it was called the Kittanning 
Road. Kittanning Avenue in South Olean 
covers nearly the same route for some dis- 
tance up the Wildcat Valley. 

From Olean the road climbed a thousand 
feet in its first few miles, and passing near 
those picturesque groups of rocks — Flat 
Iron Rock and the Olean Rock City — it 
reached the crest of the Great Divide of the 
Alleghany Mountains. By an air line the 
distance between the two terminals was 
more than one hundred miles ; but the road 
covered a greater distance, as it followed 
the winding course of the ridges of the con- 
tinental divide. Near State Line, at Brad- 
ford and other places, parts of this high- 
way are to be seen ; and at Kane, Pennsyl- 
vania, were found cannon, remnants of 
fortifications, and other relics of military 
occupation. On the table-land at Rock City 
are the huge stumps of the pine trees which 
were felled to make through the forest a 
pathway for the defenders of their liberties. 
We may picture our Revolutionary sires 
working in the pure invigorating air of the 
mountains as the sound of the axe and the 
crash of falling monarchs of the forest 
reverberated among the rocks. 

The military records at Washington cov- 
ering the history of this road were, it is 
thought, destroyed by the British during 
the War of 1812. There is an unconfirmed 

—22— 



tradition that the route was laid out by Gen- 
eral Washington. 

THE FOUNDING OF OLEAN. 

Oil creek, whose source is the Seneca oil 
spring, is a tributary of a creek which was 
given the name of Olean by Major Adam 
Hoops. This stream by its junction with 
the Alleghany River forms the point of 
land selected by Hoops for a settlement 
which he referred to as the "Mouth of 
Olean,'* and which later was termed Olean 
Point. Doubtless the name of Olean — from 
the Latin oleum, meaning oil — was sug- 
gested to the mind of the founder of Olean 
by the neighborhood of the oil spring near 
the village of Cuba. Major Adam Hoops 
was a Revolutionary soldier whose nephew 
had been a surveyor in this section and had 
probably called his uncle's attention to its 
advantages. Major Hoops thought that the 
"Mouth of Olean" was destined for pros- 
perity, that it would be the head of naviga- 
tion on the river, and a place for the em- 
barkation of emigrants. He bought twenty 
thousand acres of land of the Holland Land 
Company in 1803, came the following year, 
and established a settlement in the midst of 
the wilderness. Here was the "forest 
primeval." The hills and vales of Cat- 
taraugus county were clothed with a mag- 
nificent white pine forest. The trees stood 
in close ranks, the largest of them towering 
—28— 



to a height of two hundred and forty feet, 
and having a circumference of eleven feet. 
Mr. Henry Barr, a native of Olean, told the 
writer that when a lad he had often climbed 
into the trees in the cemetery, (now Oak 
Hill Park) and going from tree to tree 
had not descended to the ground until 
reaching Union street. At the junction of 
creek and river where the pre-historic men 
had their sepulchral mound, where the In- 
dians set up their wigwams and chipped 
their stone weapons and implements, was 
built the first home of the white man, the 
cabin of Robert Hoops, the brother of the 
founder of the place. Deer and other game 
were abundant as were also ferocious 
beasts, compelling the pioneers to contend 
with them for the possession of the wilder- 
ness. At one time a bounty of sixty dollars 
per head was paid for wolf scalps. The 
wildcats have bequeathed their name to the 
valley running south from Mount View 
Cemetery. The early settlers had thrilling 
experiences with panthers, bears and other 
wild animals.* The young settlement was a 
lumber mart, and grew steadily with the 
years. In its thirtieth year there were more 
than 300,000,000 feet of lumber rafted 
down the river. In 1889 the last raft of 
logs was sent down from Olean and points 
north of it. 



♦Note: Early History of Concord, Brig-^s. 

—24— 



Emigrants who had heard the call of 
"Westward Ho!" came overland to Olean 
Point. This was the starting place for the 
West for emigrants from the East. There 
was on the banks of the river every year a 
great encampment of an emigrant army 
awaiting the breaking up of the ice in the 
river. During one springtime two thousand 
people waited here for the river to reach its 
flood stage, that they might make their way 
in flat-bottomed boats or on rafts of lum- 
ber to Pittsburgh, and from thence to more 
western points. We can picture the excite- 
ment caused by this influx of a transient 
population crowding into the village, being 
taken into the homes of the residents, camp- 
ing in tents or rude shanties, or patronizing 
the tavern kept by Jehiel Boardman. By 
this route came General Putnam and com- 
panions from Massachusetts; they were the 
pioneers of Marietta, the first settlement in 
Ohio. It then seemed probable that Major 
Hoops' expectations as to Olean's future 
were to be realized. A more advantageous 
route for emigration, however, was fur- 
nished by the opening of the Erie Canal in 
1825. Congress ordered a survey made by 
Major George W. Hughes in 1837, who re- 
ported that the steamboat Newcastle had 
ascended without difficulty from Pittsburgh 
to Olean, and could *'even under present 
circumstances make regular trips between 
these places." But the Erie Canal had 
—25— 



changed the direction of trade and emigra- 
tion, and nothing further was done by gov- 
ernment or individuals for the navigation of 
the Alleghany River as far as Olean. To 
connect this part of the state with the Erie 
Canal, the Genesee Valley Canal was cut 
through from Lake Ontario; the work hav- 
ing been begun in 1836, was completed 
twenty years later. The canal extended 
through Olean and seven miles beyond, ter- 
minating at Millport. In connection with 
the subject of river navigation, it is en- 
couraging that in the year 1919 Olean was 
visited by men from Pittsburgh with a view 
(to the reestablishment of such an enterprise, 
by the building of dams to provide slack 
water. Let us hope that the vision of Adam 
Hoops in the early years of the past century 
may yet be realized and that our river 
banks may be lined with docks and manu- 
facturing plants made possible by water 
navigation. 

At this period the stage roads afforded a 
slow method of travel. One is impressed 
with the vital relation between a community 
and its transportation facilities by reading 
the statement that the most important event 
in the history of Olean was the completion 
in 1851 of an iron road — the Erie railroad. 
Yet, owing to lack of co-operation between 
the road builders and the land owners, the 
railroad station was placed a mile and a 
quarter from the village. Mention must be 
—26— 



made of another railroad which was not on 
the authorized maps. There was a station 
at Olean of the "underground railroad" 
which was in operation previous to the Civil 
War. At this station, fathered by Lambert 
Whitney, a "Doctor of the Old School," 
runaway negro slaves who were fleeing to 
Canada were cared for as they passed 
through, and given directions for their next 
stopping place. Their flight was at night 
and they followed the North Star. Aunt 
Sarah Johnson when a young girl was the 
first escaped slave to locate here per- 
manently.* 

Adam Hoops donated land for the 
schools, the park (Lincoln) and the ceme- 
tery, (Oak Hill Park.) In mapping out the 
town, he planned a patriotic memorial. He 
gave the central thoroughfares the names of 
Union, State, North and South, and to the 
others the names of Revolutionary patriots : 
Washington, Hamilton, Laurens, Putnam, 
Henle}^ Irving, Green, Sullivan, Wayne, 
Jay, Tompkins, Barry, Clinton and Fulton. 
Possibly Reed and Coleman were among 
the original names. 

A CENTURY PASSED. 

In 1904, a boulder of conglomerate 
brought from the near-by hills was placed 
in Lincoln Park by the Olean Chapter, 

*Note: Sarah Johnson's story, "North to 
Freedom," in High School Congress, November, 
1901. 

—27— 



Daughters of the American Revolution. At 
the centennial anniversary of the city, this 
monument was dedicated with elaborate and 
appropriate ceremonies to the memory of 
Major Hoops and to every Revolutionary 
soldier in the county. 

"And the rocks shall raise their heads 
Of the patriots' deeds to tell." 

Olean is in Cattaraugus County, seventy- 
one miles southeast of Buffalo, and is lo- 
cated on the Erie, the Pennsylvania, and the 
Pittsburgh, Shawmut and Northern rail- 
roads. The Western New York and Penn- 
sylvania Traction 'Company operates the 
city trolley systems of Olean, Bradford and 
Salamanca, and also has lines radiating to 
the outlying towns. Banking facilities are 
secured through the First National Bank, 
the Exchange National Bank and the Olean 
Trust Company. The lumber, oil, tanning 
and railroad industries combined with the 
use of natural gas and excellent transporta- 
tion facilities have been the chief factors in 
the development of the city. The two car 
shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany employ a large number of men, and 
are of great importance to the business in- 
terests of the city. Olean is noted for its 
oil, leather and chemical plant interests. It 
is the terminal for several crude oil pipe 
lines, and has an oil tank farm of over one 
hundred acres in extent. The capacity of 
—28— 



each tank is thirty-five thousand barrels. 
From 1884 until the present time, the 
Standard Oil Company has maintained this 
storage place for crude petroleum in con- 
nection with its extensive refineries. The 
Vacuum Oil Company does an enormous 
business in oil and its by-products. In ad- 
dition to the above industrial establish- 
ments, there are tanneries, planing mills, 
carriage and wagon works, foundries, ice 
plants, brickyards, machine shops, tile and 
cutlery works. There is an electric light 
and power company, a glass factory, silk 
mill, hydraulic cider and vinegar plant, bean 
and canning companies and a box factory. 

The commercial houses are remarkably 
well equipped for wholesale and retail trade 
and have an extensive patronage from the 
surrounding towns, farm and oil producing 
districts. Affiliated with the Trade and 
Labor Council are many strong labor 
unions. 

The churches number twenty-two; there 
are Young Men's Christian Association and 
Knights of Columbus buildings, the Olean 
Public Library, Higgins Memorial Hospital 
and Nurses' Home, the Clinic, a state 
armory, high school and nine grade school 
buildings, St. Mary's parochial school and 
convent, the parochial school of the Trans- 
figuration, and Westbrooks Commercial 
College. St. Bonaventure's College and St. 
Elizabeth's Convent are at Alleghany, two 
—29— 



miles west of the city. The parks include 
Oak Hill, Lincoln, several small breathing 
places, and an important addition to its 
park lands made by the city in 1918-1919. 
The Chamber of Commerce inaugurated 
and pushed to completion a flood abatement 
project at an expenditure of $350,000, the 
expense being shared equally by the state 
and the municipality. Without a loss of 
waterways, fifty acres of park lands and 
several miles of boulevards have been added 
to the city. The Chamber of Commerce has 
been instrumental in bringing many manu- 
facturing plants to the city. The Business 
Men's Association is another strong factor 
in promoting business interests. Conspicu- 
ous organizations are the City and the Ham- 
ilton Country clubs, the Elks, the Moose, and 
several strong Masonic orders. The Even- 
ing Herald and The Evening Times are 
fine newspapers, both having daily tele- 
graphic news service. There are attractive 
theatres and motion picture houses. In ad- 
dition to many organizations, religious and 
fraternal, which are doing welfare work, 
may be mentioned the Red Cross, Anti-Tu- 
berculosis, Visiting Nurse, Infant Welfare, 
Womans Christian Temperance Union, 
Woman's Civic Club, Daughters of the 
American Revolution, City Relief, Chil- 
dren's Aid, and Single Tax League. Vacant 
Lot Garden cultivation was in operation in 
1911-1913, and in 1917-1919, the Chamber 

—30— 



of Commerce conducted War Gardens on a 
large scale. In 1918 the Land Army of 
America was organized. 

Further interesting facts regarding Olean 
are as follows: a city charter was granted 
in 1893; its fire department is motorized; 
the gravity system of water works is owned 
and operated by the city; a filtration plant 
has been installed in North Olean; the cen- 
sus of 1915 showed a population of 17,925 ; 
the slogan of the Chamber of Commerce is, 
Olean Offers Opportunities This last at- 
tractive statement suggests a reminiscence 
of forty years ago, when Bradford and 
Olean were friendly rivals in bidding for 
the influx of population brought by the 
near-by oil developments. Each city in- 
sisted that it had a greater number of nat- 
ural advantages. Regarding the extra- 
ordinary natural resources dwelt upon 
in the introduction to the sketch of Brad- 
ford given in this booklet, the story may 
be read as equally applicable to the history 
of Olean. These two progressive young 
cities, so well endowed with natural advan- 
tages, may well emulate one another, as at 
present, in showing which may offer the 
more acquired advantages.* 



•Note: Sec Appendix. 



—31— 



HISTORIC GLIMPSES OF BRAD- 
FORD. PENNSYLVANIA. 

IT is indeed amazing to consider the fabu- 
lous wealth represented in the natural re- 
sources which were placed at the disposal 
of man in the land at the head waters of the 
Alleghany river. The most lavish gifts 
have there been found in the great store- 
house of Mother Earth. In 1839, one of 
the first geologists to visit this part of the 
country reported as follows : "The valleys 
of the Alleghany and its tributaries are dis- 
tinguished for their magnificent forests of 
white pine. Probably no region in any of 
the states was originally covered with an 
equal amount of valuable timber." As the 
years have passed it has been realized that 
the world has never seen the like of these 
stately white pine forests, which furnished 
timber superior even to that of Washington 
or of "the woods where rolls the Oregon." 
For years mighty rafts of lumber were 
taken down the river and used in 
building operations in all the states border- 
ing the Alleghany, the Ohio, and Mississippi 
rivers. Rafting continued for more than 
two generations and yet untold wealth in 
timber lands remains. The forests yielded 
and continued to yield of their treasures for 
manufacturing purposes, for the tanning of 
—83— . 



leather, and for the production of wood al- 
cohol, acids, and alkalies. 

In the forests were countless numbers of 
wild creatures in furs and in feathers. The 
hunting and trapping of fur-bearing animals 
has been for more than a century a bus- 
iness of great importance. Regarding the 
birds, one instance must suffice. Year after 
year the flocks of wild pigeons came to their 
breeding places on the river in such vast 
numbers that for days the sky was darkened 
as with heavy clouds. By brutal and indis- 
criminate slaughter the species has been 
nearly exterminated.* The streams were 
filled with an abundant supply of the choic- 
est fish. The hills gave of their rocky 
treasures and of materials for brick, mortar, 
and glass. The earth's crust was pierced, 
and there was found a subterranean ocean 
of petroleum, 800,000,000 barrels of which 
have already been brought to the surface, 
founding an industry which has produced a 
new era in the world's history. With its 
marvelous by-products, petroleum comprises 
wealth almost beyond our comprehension. 
Later came the utiHzation of gasoline, of 
natural gas, and from it more gasoline. In 
this richly endowed portion of the globe 
there was also not lacking the fertile soil 
necessary to the production of food, cloth- 
ing, and the raising of livestock. 



•See Birds of New York by Elon Howard 
Eaton. 

—34— 



To the frontier physician, Dr. Bennett, 
belongs the distinction of making in 1828, 
the first home in the future city of Brad- 
ford. He practiced his profession in the 
himber camps and valley settlements. In 
1837 the United States Land Company 
owned a quarter of a million of acres of 
timber lands in this vicinity. Representing 
the company, Colonel L. C. Little estab- 
lished a hamlet named Littleton on the 
Tunungwant or Crooked Creek, and lum- 
bering became the great business for many 
years. In 1858 Littleton adopted the name 
of Bradford, the reason therefor not being 
clear; possibly the place was named in 
honor of William Bradford, attorney gen- 
eral for Pennsylvania, and also a member 
of Washington's cabinet. In August, 1871, 
the Barnsdall, the Independent and the 
Salem oil companies were organized in 
Bradford for the purpose of drilling for oil 
in the vicinity of the village. The first oil 
well was completed in 1874, and within two 
years there were four thousand producing 
wells on Tunungwant Creek, which became 
famous as the center of the Bradford Oil 
District, one of the greatest oil producing 
regions of the world.* Manufacturers fol- 
lowed the oil producer, Bradford grew rap- 
idly in size and commercial importance, and 
was granted a city charter in 1879. 



*Note: "Bradford Oil District," in this volume. 
—35— 



Bradford is in McKean County, Penn- 
sylvania, seventy-eight miles southeast of 
Buffalo, on the Erie, the Pennsylvania, and 
the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh rail- 
roads. It also has service from the West- 
em, New York and Pennsylvania Traction 
Company. Kinzua Bridge, fourteen miles 
distant, is three hundred feet high, twenty- 
one hundred feet long, and spams a wooded 
valley. 

Noteworthy features of the city are its 
twenty-six churches, high school, and five 
ward school buildings. St. Bernard's 
parochial school. Young Men's Christian 
Association, Knights of Columbus, Young 
Women's Christian League, the Northwest- 
ern Anti-Tuberculosis League, the Carnegie 
Public Library, the ^Historical, the Red 
Cross, and the Humane societies. A visit- 
ing nurse is supported by the Visiting Nurse 
Association. The city has reason for espe- 
cial pride in its progressive public market, 
in its completely motorized fire department, 
in its hospital having one hundred and 
eighteen beds, and the English cottage plan, 
and in the new Hamsher home for nurses. 
Other notable organizations are the Brad- 
ford and the Country clubs, the Elks and 
the Moose, the Masonic orders, the 
Woman's Literary Club, the Business Men's 
Association, and the Board of Commerce. 
Play grounds and juvenile garden work 
with paid supervision were inaugurated by 
—36— 



the Board of Commerce and taken over and 
carried on by the Board of Education. The 
labor unions have large and strong organ- 
izations. The banks are the Bradford Na- 
tional Bank, the First National Bank, and a 
third the name of which is not available at 
this writing. The newspapers are: The 
Bra, The Star-Record, and The Sunday 
Herald. A beautiful theatre and three mov- 
ing picture houses supply the histrionic 
needs. 

The progressive spirit of the people was 
indicated by the adoption of the commission 
form of government by act approved in 
1913. The reservoir and water works are 
owned by the city, the gravity system hav- 
ing been established largely through the ef- 
forts of Rufus B, Stone. Exceedingly for- 
tunate was the city in having forward look- 
ing citizens in the preceding generation, by 
whose foresight and wisdom the community 
was induced to purchase twelve thousand 
acres of water-shed. Peter T. Kennedy 
was one of the principal agitators for the 
acquisition of the watershed. The city now 
has excellent water at a very low rate and 
a large balance to the credit of the water 
department which can be used for municipal 
improvements. 

Bradford has a large trade in oil, wood 
acid, alkalies and gasoline, extensive manu- 
factures of oil-well tools, building and pav- 
ing brick, tile, silks, boilers, gas engines, air 
—37— 



compressors, brushes, carbon brushes, and 
cutlery. Nearly every one in the commun- 
ity is interested financially in oil. The city 
contains many handsome residences and is 
very compactly built. Natural gas is largely 
used for fuel and lighting, and there is an 
electric light and power plant. With the 
operation of the new water drive method 
for increasing the output of oil, which, it 
is estimated will make the oil field product- 
ive for probably fifty years longer, certainly 
the commercial future of Bradford looks 
bright. The census of 1916 estimated the 
population as 15,800. 



-38- 



THE BRADFORD OIL DISTRICT. 

AS an approach to the consideration of 
one of the oil regions of the world, it 
may be of interest to refer to a few in- 
stances of the use of petroleum in some of 
its forms by men from the earliest times.* 
The *'slime," mentioned in the construction 
of the Tower of Babel over four thousand 
years ago, was doubtless partially evapor- 
ated petroleum. It is believed that the pitch 
with which Noah covered the Ark two hun- 
dred and fifty years earlier, was a similar 
product. Bitumen was used in the walls of 
Nineveh and Babylon, and the same sub- 
stance taken from the Dead Sea was sold 
to the Eg}^ptians for embalming purposes. 
In China natural gas was transported from 
place to place in bamboo pipes, and in 
Genoa, Italy, gas was used for illumination. 
Pliny records that rock oil was burned in 
the lamps of the Temple of Jupiter in the 
year 1 A. D. For twenty-five centuries the 
oil and gas springs about the Caspian Sea 
were used as holy fires. There is httle 
doubt that petroleum was known by the 
aborigines on this continent centuries be- 
fore the advent of the white man. 

At Pithole, and on Oil Creek as it enters 
the Alleghany River one hundred miles 



♦Note: Acknowledgment is due the Derrick's 
Handbook of Petroleum. 

—39— 



north of Pittsburgh, ancient pits built of 
logs have been found, which were evidently 
made for the storage of oil. They cover 
hundreds of acres of land, and are seen in 
places where oil is found near the surface 
and not in any other places. The Indians 
were ignorant of their origin. 

The earliest mention of petroleum in the 
United States dates back to 1627 when the 
oil spring at Cuba, N. Y., was described by 
a French missionary. In 1670, in a map 
made by missionaries, this same "fountain 
of oil" was located. In 1721 a traveler 
tells of a journey up the Genesee River and 
thence by land to the Alleghany River, then 
called the Ohio. Of the spring at Cuba, he 
said : "The savages use the oil to appease all 
manner of pains." In 1833, Professor Silli- 
man of Yale College, visited the place and 
wrote an account of it, saying in part, "The 
oil is skimmed like cream from a milk pan, 
a flat board being used. It is cleaned by 
heating and straining through woolen cloth. 
However, most of the so-called Seneca 
Oil is from Oil Creek, Pennsylvania." 
There was also a notable oil spring at 
Freedom in Cattaraugus County, N. Y. In 
1767 and 1789 Moravian Missionaries in 
Pennsylvania thus described the methods of 
collecting oil. "The Indians skim off the 
thick oil and throw it away, then stir the 
water, fill their kettles and purify the oil by 
boiling away the water. Sometimes they 
—40— 



make a little dam, and dip in a woolen 
blanket, quickly removing and wringing 
it. It absorbs the oil and spurns the water." 
This oil was sold to the white man for four 
guineas a quart. 

From 1808 to 1815, in the drilling of shal- 
low wells for salt and brine, petroleum was 
often struck, which was looked upon as a 
misfortune as it ruined the salt wells. About 
1850 Samuel M. Kier of Pittsburgh, had 
been selling the oil from his salt wells for 
fifty cents a half pint bottle. He was quite 
modern in his clever advertising. A circu- 
lar in the shape of a bank note explained 
that "Kier's Petroleum'* was a "Natural 
Remedy procured from a well 400 feet be- 
low the Earth's surface." This circular 
coming to the notice of two young men sug- 
gested to them the idea of drilling for oil. 
In 1859 E. L. Drake, a New England 
Yankee, drilled near Titusville, the first 
wild cat well in the Pennsylvania oil re- 
gions. He was handicapped by lack of men 
who understood drilling and by the ineffi- 
ciency of the tools then in use. Hearing of 
William A. Smith, he engaged him to do the 
work. "Fate tried to conceal him by nam- 
ing him Smith," but his inventive genius 
joined with the ingenuity and superb faith 
of Drake made this historic well possible. 
Samuel B. Smith of Titusville, Pennsyl- 
vania, is the only man now living who 
helped to drill the well, and the following 
—41 — 



is in brief his story. My father, William 
A. Smith of Tarentum, was a blacksmith. 
When the drillers of the salt wells lost 
their tools in the hole, my father had suc- 
cess in devising and making apparatus that 
would bring up the lost tools. These were 
the first "fishing" tools made. In working 
about the salt wells he acquired a good idea 
of the principles used in drilling, so that 
when Colonel Drake was ready to drill his 
oil well, he came after my father to do it. 
Father made the temper screw used on that 
well, not very different from the ones used 
nowadays. Oil was struck at sixty-nine 
feet and flowed three hundred and fifty 
barrels a day. William A. Smith has des- 
cendants living in Bradford and in Chip- 
monk. Drake had the faith to drill through 
the rocks in the face of ridicule and scorn. 
When he struck oil in the submerged De- 
vonian strata, the industrial world entered 
upon a new era furnished with fuel, light, 
and tremendous power which had been 
stored in by-gone ages. 

THE DRAKE MEMORIAL 
ASSOCIATION. 

A Drake Memorial Association, which 
meets annually, has been formed with E. C. 
Bell of Titusville, as secretary. He is also 
the collector and curator of a complete mus- 
eum of documents, tools, and other histor- 
ical relics of the early days of the oil de- 
— 42— 



velopment. Fifty years were spent in mak- 
ing the collection. 

In 1871 Job Moses was successful in find- 
ing oil at Limestone, New York, in the same 
year drilling began on Tunungwant Creek 
near Bradford, in 1874 the first well was 
completed, and the famous Bradford Oil 
District was an established fact. The de- 
velopments in Alleghany County, New 
York are included in the Bradford District, 
which is classed with the Appalachian 
Field. The latter extends from New York 
to Tennessee and has a width of one hun- 
dred and fifty miles. The wells in this field 
range in depth from a few hundred, to four 
thousand feet. In the Bradford District 
the oil bearing sand is found at a depth of 
from thirteen hundred to eighteen hundred 
feet, and is so regular and constant that if 
wells were drilled at random, the number 
of dry hole? which would be obtained would 
hardly exceed two in every one hundred. 
This estimate was made in 1916, and since 
then the high price paid for oil has greatly 
stimulated drilling in previously developed 
territory. The Bradford sand is thirty-five 
feet in thickness and remarkably long-lived. 
There has been no sand like it in the length 
of time it has continued to produce, wells 
drilled forty years ago are still producing 
oil in paying quantities. Oil sands are con- 
sidered to be reservoirs or sponges which 
serve to hold oil. A fair average is given 
—43— 



in 1918 of the production for the entire 
Bradford District as a quarter of a barrel 
per well per day. Economy in pumping the 
smaller wells is secured through using an 
ingenius system of compressors and jerk 
lines. The compressor, a central power sta- 
tion, is connected with a large number of 
wells by the jerk line, which consists of a 
series of connecting rods, supported on tri- 
pods. The rods are jerked backward and 
forward by the compressor, thus pumping 
the wells. The general effect is that of rail 
fences extending across hills amd valleys. 
The flowing wells are those in which the 
pressure of the natural gas forces up the 
petroleum; in the pumping wells the gas is 
weak or exhausted. 

It was estimated by the government in 
1918 that 85 per cent of the recoverable oil 
in the Bradford District had been exhaust- 
ed. The opinion of the operators in the 
district is quite different. They consider 
that 50 per cent of it is still in the ground 
and they are going after it. One of the 
new methods employed to increase produc- 
tion is the flooding or water drive method. 
This flood production has rejuvenated the 
field ; it is claimed that it will make it good 
for at least fifty years longer. The meth- 
od is to clean out an existing oil well and 
flood it with water. The great water pres- 
sure gradually drives the oil before it in a 
constantly enlarging circumference. The 
—44— 



radial travel is about seven feet per an- 
num. The water backs the oil up in front 
of it, and the idea is to drill into this bank 
of accumulated oil. It follows that this 
method of production compells the pro- 
ducer to drill frequently and closely and in 
an ever increasing circle. By this method 
the producer claims to be able to get prac- 
tically all of the oil in the ground. 

The oils of the Appalachian Field are in 
the main of a high grade paraffine base, free 
from asphalt and objectionable sulphur, and 
when refined, yield superior gasoline and 
illuminating oil. 

The following figures are all approxi- 
mate. They were compiled in 1918 and I 
have condensed them from many pages of 
government reports. 

The total yield of petroleum in the Brad- 
ford District in the sixty years of its exist- 
ence has been 788,500,000 barrels. In 1891 
the peak of production was reached, 
amounting to 33,000,000 barrels. 

Of the world's total yield of 6,500,000,000 
barrels, two-thirds has been produced by 
the United States. Of the United States' 
yield of 4,000,000,000 barrels, nearly one- 
third has been produced by the Appalachian 
Field. Of the Appalachian's Field's yield 
of 1,317,000,000 barrels, more than one- 
half has been produced by the Bradford 
District. The approximate value of the to- 
tal production of the Appalachian Field, 
—45— 



estimated as sold at the wells is $1,682,000,- 
000. The value of the natural gas produced 
in the eighteen years ending in 1916 was 
$352,133,000, and the value of gasoline pro- 
duced from natural gas was $1,726,000. 

With regard to the importance of the 
petroleum industry, J. D. Northrup writes 
as follows: "PecuHar interest attaches to 
the production of petroleum in Pennsylva- 
nia as a consequence of the fact that the 
petroleum industry of the United States had 
its inception in this state, and of the further 
fact that its first oil pools are still contrib- 
uting to the oil supply of the country. Since 
the discovery of these pools, the United 
States has maintained supremacy in the pe- 
troleum industry of the entire world. The 
United States produces, refines, and mar- 
kets two-thirds of the world's current sup- 
ply of petroleum. Such a condition is of 
vast importance in time of peace, but takes 
on an interest that becomes world-wide and 
vital when the relation of petroleum to the 
conduct of modem warfare is fully appre- 
ciated." 

Tracing the development of the petrole- 
um industry from the time Colonel Drake's 
well came in down to the present day, we 
learn of the origpin of the refining processes 
through the researches of James Young in 
England in 1850, of the invention of the 
kerosene lamp by Samuel Kier in Pitts- 
burgh in 1852, and the consequent revolu- 

— 46— 



tion brought about in the illumination of 
homes, work shops, and streets, of the de- 
velopment of the gasoline motor, and the 
culmination of the services of petroleum in 
making possible the winning of the war by 
the Allies. 

We may well inquire as to what science 
has learned of the process of the manufac- 
ture of such valuable materials in the labor- 
atory of the earth. A recent number of Cur- 
rent Events says: Geologists disagree as to 
the origin of petroleum. The majority of 
those who have written on the subject ap- 
pear to believe that the oil is of animal and 
vegetable origin. It is conjectured to be 
mainly the fat of fishes, reptiles and ani- 
mals that lived and died ages ago. Oil- 
bearing plants or seeds may have contribut- 
ed to the total supply. The whole subject 
is wrapped in mystery. 

The theory of those who believe that pe- 
troleum is largely from vegetable remains 
is here given. In the storehouse of nature 
it took inconceivably long ages of time to 
manufacture the coal, petroleum, natural 
gas and other carbonaceous products. They 
are largely vegetable remains, having been 
subjected to pressure of materials above 
them, which pressure caused heat sufficient 
for distillation. The petroleum is believed 
to have been formed from marine plants 
as coal was derived from land plants. The 
basin for the reception and preservation of 
—47— 



coal is underneath it — the hard conglomer- 
ate rock; the basin for the pool of oil is 
above it — an impervious rock or bed of clay 
over it is a necessary condition, as the oil 
rises on water and from gas pressure. When 
the drill pierces the hard cap of rock over- 
laying the pool, the oil is often forced up 
by the tremendous pressure of natural gas. 

NATURAL GAS AND GASOLINE. 

New York has the distinction of being 
the first state to recognize the utility of 
inatural gas and to make use of it for fuel 
and illumination. In 1821 gas was first 
obtained from a well one and a half inches 
in diameter and twenty-seven feet in depth, 
put down in Fredonia, Chautauqua county, 
and was used for heat and light at that time. 
The hotel was illuminated by it when Gen- 
eral Lafayette visited Fredonia. However, 
the development of the natural gas industry 
has taken place for the most part in the 
past eighteen years. The value of the an- 
nual production of natural gas in New York 
state is in excess of $2,000,000. It is pro- 
duced in sixteen counties, the number of 
wells in 1916 being 2,068. The average 
house uses 25,000 cubic feet of gas per 
month. 

The gas fields of Pennsylvania are es- 
sentially coincident with its oil fields. They 
are distributed over twenty-three counties. 
The principal gas sands number more than 
—48— 



a score. The value of gas produced in the 
eighteen years from 1898 to 1916 was, in 
Pennsylvania $329,039,369, in New York 
$23,094,169, a total of $352,133,538. 

The market value of natural gas commer- 
cially utilized in the entire United States in 
the year 1916 was $120,227,468. 

There is a steady decline in both produc- 
tion and pressure. At the end of 1916 there 
were 13,917 gas wells in service in Penn- 
sylvania, exclusive of a great number of 
other wells which produce both gas and oil. 
Gas obtained from oil wells is called casing- 
head gas, or wet gas. This gas also con- 
tains gasoline vapor. It was formerly al- 
lowed to waste in large quantities. For 
many years throughout the oil country, the 
enormous flames of gas burned night and 
day. The removal of the gasoline from the 
gas leaves a drier gas, with little loss of fuel 
value. Beginning with 1919 gas well pres- 
sure records are to be kept. 

The gasoline produced from natural gas 
in Pennsylvania in 1916 was valued at the 
195 plants at $1,726,000. In New York 
there were in 1916 two plants in Alleghany 
county, and three in Cattaraugus county. 
This industry represents true conservation 
in that it has brought about the saving of 
oil-well gas that was formerly wasted be- 
cause the volume obtainable from individual 
wells was not sufficient to warrant the ex- 
pense of collecting and piping it to market. 
—49— 



There has been also a gain in the quality 
and heating power of the gas from which 
the gasoline has been taken, and the gasoline 
is made available for the ever increasing 
demand for motor fuel. 



—50— 









6^ 






APPENDIX. 

A SUGGESTION FOR A MUNICIPAL GROVE 
OF FRUIT AND NUT-BEARING TREES. 

One of the ancient villages of Europe 
has had a community forest in successful 
operation for five hundred years, the rev- 
enue from it paying the expenses of gov- 
ernment, thus relieving the villagers of all 
taxes. Our foresters point out that France 
could not have resisted the German inva- 
sion without her carefully tended forests. 
In horticulture this country can learn much 
from the older communities. As we look 
upon the hills about Bradford and Olean, we 
know that students of forestry advocate 
their reafforestation, which, aside from the 
added commercial value, would be health- 
giving to the community and also furnish 
an asset of picturesque beauty. 

The plan herein outlined in a tentative 
way is, however, for a community fruit and 
nut grove. As to its feasibility, I ques- 
tioned a Rochester nurseryman of national 
reputation and a well-known civic worker 
of Bradford. The former, replying to var- 
ious questions, said that with proper co- 
operation and management such a grove 
would be self-supporting in a few years; 
fruit and nut trees would thrive on level 
and slightly sloping ground ; steeper hillside 
—51—- 



could be utilized for berry bushes, grape 
vines, and the keeping of beesA^ Some of 
the expenses of spraying and caring for the 
trees while coming into bearing could be 
met from the sale of honey; the bees also 
giving service in the fertilization of the tree 
blossoms. The civic worker gave the follow- 
ing opinion: *'With competent municipal 
supervision, a community fruit and nut 
grove should be feasible, more successful 
perhaps than such an enterprise in or near 
a city under private ownership, because bet- 
ter guarded. I have long looked forward 
to the time when the Great Level should 
become an immense grove of nut-bearing 
trees, and I think public attention cannot be 
too strongly directed that way." 

As our municipalities might hesitate at 
the present time to incur the expense of 
buying land, planting and fencing a grove, 
its establishment would probably depend 
on civic organizations, or on the gift of 
public-spirited citizens. Such a grove 
could be a memorial, its name and those of 
its donors being registered with the Amer- 
ican Forestry Association. 

Let the mind picture the beauty of an 
orchard of ''trees pleasant to the sight and 
good for food," friendly trees clapping their 
hands with joy, scattering abroad the de- 
licious fragrance of their blossoms, and at 
the harvest time laden with richly colored 
fruit. Dwell for a mom.ent upon the great 









variety of fruit trees, especially of that royal 
fruit, the apple; and as to nut trees, there 
are the chestnuts, walnuts, hickory and 
beechnuts, butternuts and hazel-nuts. There 
could be berry bushes, and there should be 
long hedges of the elderberry, and trellises 
of grape vines. The people of the country 
districts are able to supply themselves with 
elderberries for winter use, but city 
dwellers cannot get an abundance of this 
valuable fruit, which requires little sugar 
to combine it with apples, grapes and with 
many fruit juices. 

Some cities now employ a forester to 
look after their ornamental trees. Perhaps 
such an official, understanding orchard and 
bee culture, could have charge of the grove, 
and live on the place. In the winter time, 
he might render much needed leadership 
in organizing volunteers to go into the 
woods during heavy snowfalls to feed our 
feathered friends. The forester might be 
assisted in his orchard work by volunteer 
groups of citizens or of supervised school 
children. An educational campaign is now 
starting at Cambridge, Massachusetts, to 
teach children how to raise bees and make 
a profit. The student's hives are kept in 
city back yards. Each swarm of Italian 
bees will produce an average of one hun- 
dred and twenty-five pounds of honey, 
which now sells at forty-five cents a pound. 
—53— 



The Italian bees produce the most honey 
with the least sting. 

As to the profit in fruit raising, we read 
that the largest apple orchard in the world, 
owned by A. R. Clay of White Hall, Illi- 
nois, covers 1,300 acres, and that the 
acreage is being increased. One can for- 
see that at times the ground would be car- 
peted with fruit and nuts, and that under 
necessary regulations groups of children 
could be admitted. After the choicest 
produce had been sold to provide for self- 
support, there would remain an abundance 
of the less desirable which citizens could 
gather for their own use. Persons could 
work in the grove, ' receiving credit for 
hours worked ,and use their credits for 
buying produce. 

When the orchard shows a profit, var- 
ious ways will suggest themselves to the 
mind as to a fair distribution to the com- 
munity. The profit might be used to pay 
the salary of a recreational secretary, or 
for other welfare work; the tax budget 
might be reduced; or it could be applied, 
as is now done with the surplus in the 
water department of the city of Bradford, 
in making municipal improvements. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




